Troy Evans cements his legacy as Bay City hero with Super Bowl championship

David J. Philip | The Associated PressBay City native Troy Evans celebrates on the field after helping the New Orleans Saints win the Super Bowl in Miami on Feb. 7.

Troy Evans moved away from Bay City in 1988.

But this will always be his hometown.

And, after Super Bowl XLIV, he’ll always be a hometown hero.

Evans gave Bay City a Super Bowl connection, suiting up for the New Orleans Saints and stepping on the field for one of the game’s momentous plays in their stunning 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

And local fans who welcomed the Bay City native into their living rooms for the most-watched game in television history were witness to No. 54 doing his part to become a Super Bowl champion.

“I definitely appreciate all the support,” Evans said by phone from his Cincinnati home. “I’ll never forget where I come from. Bay City’s a humble, local town and it means a lot to me.”

Evans, 32, was raised in Bangor Township’s Northgate Subdivision along with brothers Todd and Brad, until the family of Mike and Shirley Evans moved to Cincinnati in 1988. But with family and friends still in town, Troy Evans has remained on the radar — especially since emerging as an NFL talent in 2001.

And when Evans and the Saints reached the Super Bowl in Miami on Feb. 7, his visibility in the community and across the country reached an all-time peak — particularly for one of the biggest plays of the NFL season.

As special teams captain, Evans was in the heat of the action when the Saints opened the second half with an onside kick that caught the Colts off guard and turned the momentum in favor of New Orleans for keeps.

“That was a big turning point in the game, not just that we recovered it but how we recovered it,” Evans said. “It was a free for all, but there was no doubt in anybody’s mind wearing a New Orleans uniform that it was our ball.

“That play, that effort will always stand out for me. It felt like one of the longest plays in NFL history because the scrum lasted so long.”

Evans was in the middle of the pile as players from both teams did all they could to possess the bouncing ball.

“I was in the mix doing some things that my mom wouldn’t have been very proud of,” he said.

The Saints would recover the ball and go on to pull off the Super Bowl upset, setting off a New Orleans-style celebration that is still keeping Evans and his teammates hopping.

Evans already has plenty on his plate. He and wife Jill just moved into a new house in Cincinnati, are planning their second daughter’s first birthday party and are expecting a third little girl in April. A Super Bowl victory party only added to the fun.

“It’s been absolutely crazy,” Evans said. “When we had the parade in New Orleans, they said 850,000 people were in the streets … We got to the parade at 3:30 and got home at 3:30.”

Evans, an all-stater at Cincinnati Lakota High School who went on to captain the University of Cincinnati football team, has carved out a niche in the NFL through stints with the St. Louis Rams, Houston Texans and the Saints. After parts of nine seasons in the league, the 6-foot-3, 238-pound linebacker said he had a full appreciation for reaching the pinnacle of his sport.

“Kickoff, that’s when it hits you,” he said. “All those thousands of flashbulbs were going off and it was like ‘Here we go!’ It was everything I thought it would be, but it was almost overwhelming. You’re out there trying to make a tackle, but you can’t help seeing all those flashbulbs. It was like running through a tunnel with strobe lights.”

When the game was over, Evans said he shared a moment amid the on-field hoopla with New Orleans quarterbacks coach Joe Lombardi, whose wife Molly is also a Bay City native.

“Coach Lombardi looked at me and said ‘Long way from Bay City, hey?’ I said ‘You bet.’ It’s amazing how small a world it is,” he said.